As 2024 begins, Bristol Creative Industries co-chairs Lis Anderson and Heather Wright set out their vision and plans for the next 12 months.

Our unwavering commitment to driving value for Bristol Creative Industries members remains our top priority. We will persist in creating opportunities for our community to learn, connect and grow their businesses. Simultaneously we are dedicated to amplifying our influence within the city and nationally advocating for the views and the needs of our local creative industries.

Events, networking and learning

The highly successful programme of in-person keynote events from industry figures will continue to be a catalyst for inspiring new thinking and encouraging reflection and evolution for business growth.

We encourage leaders to bring their wider teams to these events, which may otherwise be out of reach for smaller organisations. We also aim to diversify our line-up of speakers to represent the broader spectrum of creative industries.

Freelancers constantly say how much they love the networking events and the freelancer drinks at the Square Club in Bristol have grown from strength to strength. We’ll be running more of these events in 2024 on 6 February, 23 April, 11 June, 10 September and 19 November.

Member lunches, recognised for fostering valuable real-world partnerships, will continue due to the positive feedback and opportunities they generate.

There are ongoing opportunities for learning for all Bristol Creative Industries members and their teams through the events calendar. This includes access to Wake Up Call webinars (bi-weekly live webinars with a library of recorded webinars to be launched later this year), a new equality, diversity and inclusion (ED&I) training programme and free legal advice surgeries.

Supporting the next generation of talent

Building on the success of the Bristol Creative Industries Internship Programme pilot in 2023, we’re leveraging the insights gained to make it even better this year year, with enhanced experiences and outcomes for both interns and employers.

We have started recruitment for member businesses to take part in the 2024 programme and we continue to collaborate closely with Babbasa to help us reach young creative interns from underrepresented backgrounds in our city.

2024 will also see BCI working more closely with education providers across the region to grow the creative talent pipeline for our members. We’ll be raising awareness of career opportunities in our sector, facilitating mentorships and feeding into course materials.

Film and TV

As we continue to grow, we’re keen to attract new members from the film and TV industry. With strategic partnerships formed with Bottleyard Studios and Bristol Film Office, we aim to connect our members with the many new opportunities arising from the many high end TV productions coming to the city.

New board members

To achieve our ambitious goals, we’re actively seeking new Board members. Find full details here as we look to welcome individuals who share our passion for Bristol’s creative industries.

We wish you all a very happy New Year and look forward to supporting and celebrating creative businesses throughout 2024 and beyond.

To stay updated with all Bristol Creative Industries activities and member opportunities, make sure you’re signed up to the monthly BCI Bulletin.

If you’re not yet a Bristol Creative Industries member, join here. We’d love to welcome you in 2024. 

About Bristol Creative Industries

Bristol Creative Industries is the membership network that supports the region's creative sector to learn, grow and connect, driven by the common belief that we can achieve more collectively than alone.